This is my contribution to the consultation on the future siting of the House of Lords.
My theme is that four challenges – Covid-inspired virtual working, mounting public debt, negative public perceptions and uncertainty over the future size of the House – have resulted in a single great opportunity: to function as a largely virtual legislature, with a modest physical base (conceivably in York but better in London) and the occasional Westminster ceremony to remind us of our history.
This would have seemed impossibly daring just four months ago. But virtual working in the House of Lords has been (to my mind at least) an almost unqualified success. Will we really be foregoing its advantages in the 2030s, when we are due to move back into the Palace of Westminster? I hope not.
